» Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:47 am
Unlike Ballistic Weapons, both the Capacitor and the Barrel affect the damage of Energy Weapons. In addition, the Barrel also determines how the weapon functions. The Charging prefix indicates that the weapon has the basic Sniper Barrel. Since the Sniper Barrel is obviously meant for Sniping, equipping a Laser with it drastically increases the weapon's damage. In exchange, the Sniper Barrel also decreases the weapon's mag size considerably. So while you're doing more damage per shot, you're having to reload more often.
Honestly, the Laser Musket makes a better Laser Sniper Rifle, as it does significantly more damage than you'd expect (8.5x listed damage at 5 cranks, for example). However, the Laser Musket tends to eat through your ammo. If that's an issue, the Laser weapon modded with the Improved Sniper Barrel will give you solid damage and performance while only using one round per shot.